Mass Exodus: Staggering Numbers Of America’s Young People Are Rejecting The Christian Faith
Posted by Admin | Posted in Religion, Society's War On Christianity | Posted on 27-04-2010
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For decades, the United States has been thought of as a "Christian nation" around the globe. But today that is dramatically changing - especially among America's young people. The truth is that all of the recent polls tell us that Americans under 30 years of age are rejecting the Christian faith in unprecedented numbers. In fact, what the numbers reveal is not a slow move away from the Christian faith. Rather, they clearly portray a massive wave of young Americans running away from traditional Christianity as fast as they can.
For example, a shocking new survey by LifeWay Christian Resources shows that the vast majority of young adults in America today do not go to church, do not pray and do not read the Bible.
Just consider a few of the results from this incredibly troubling survey of 18 to 29 year old Americans....
•65% rarely or never pray with others, and 38% almost never pray by themselves either.
•65% rarely or never attend worship services of any kind.
•67% don't read the Bible or any other religious texts on a regular basis.
That is a solid two-thirds of American young adults who don't even have the slightest connection to traditional Christianity.
Thom Rainer, the president of LifeWay Christian Resources, says that if the current trends continue, "the Millennial generation will see churches closing as quickly as GM dealerships."
The survey did find that 65% of those surveyed did call themselves "Christian", but among that 65%, "many are either mushy Christians or Christians in name only," Rainer says. "Most are just indifferent. The more precisely you try to measure their Christianity, the fewer you find committed to the faith."
But it just isn't this latest survey that is showing a mass exodus from the Christian faith by America's young people.
According to a recent survey by America's Research Group, 95 percent of 20 to 29 year old evangelical Christians attended church regularly during their elementary school and middle school years. However, only 55 percent of those young evangelical Christians still attended church regularly during high school, and only 11 percent of them were still regularly attending church when they went to college.
Only 11 percent.
And that was among self-identified evangelical Christians.
But the most recent American Religious Identification Survey conducted by the Institute for the Study of Secularism in Society & Culture at Trinity College was perhaps even more shocking.
According to that survey, 15% of Americans now say they have "no religion" - which is up from 8% in 1990. However, what was much more disturbing was that 46% of Americans between the ages of 18 to 34 indicated that they had no religion in the survey.
46 percent.
That is not just a trend.
That is not just a landslide.
That is a mass exodus.
Today there is a mass exodus of America's young people from the traditional Christian faith. There is simply no getting around it.
Another recent by the Barna group showed that less than 1 percent of all Americans between the ages of 18 and 23 hold a Biblical worldview.
So what is a Biblical worldview?
Well, the Barna survey defined someone as holding "a Biblical worldview" if they agreed to the following six key beliefs:
1) Believing that absolute moral truth exists.
2) Believing that the Bible is completely accurate in all of the principles it teaches.
3) Believing that Satan is considered to be a real being or force, not merely symbolic.
4) Believing that a person cannot earn their way into Heaven by trying to be good or by doing good works.
5) Believing that Jesus Christ lived a sinless life on earth.
6) Believing that God is the all-knowing, all-powerful creator of the world who still rules the universe today.
Using those six criteria, less than 1 percent of Americans between the ages of 18 and 23 hold a Biblical worldview.
The implications of this are staggering.
The truth is that the United States is quickly becoming a highly secularized nation. Europe has already been down this road, and now America is rapidly following.
Hundreds (perhaps thousands) of churches will close as people simply quit going. Large numbers of Christian ministries, radio stations, television shows and book stores will have to shut their doors because there will not be nearly enough people to support them.
But the most frightening thing of all is that we are losing almost an entire generation to the world. Never before in U.S history has an entire generation rejected the gospel as much as this one has.
America's young people are rejecting the Christian faith, and yet the Christian establishment keeps running around and telling everyone that everything is fine.
Everything is NOT fine.
The Church in America is broken. It is very rare to find a church where authentic Christianity is being practiced anymore. Our young people are not stupid. They know what is real and what is not. If the Church in America would repent and turn back to real, authentic Christianity at least we would have a chance of capturing the attention of those young Americans who are honestly looking for the truth.
But it is not all the fault of the Church. The truth is that we have created a society where children are taught that Christianity is not important. Our public schools teach our children day after day after day that they evolved from monkeys, that abortion, sex before marriage and homosexuality are perfectly moral and that anyone who disagrees is a bigot. Then they go home and they are surrounded by entertainment for the rest of the day (television, radio, video games, Internet, movies) and the overwhelming message regarding the Christian faith in these forms of entertainment is that either Christianity is irrelevant, not true or should be openly mocked.
So should we be surprised when the overwhelming majority of them reject the Christian faith? Should we expect anything else?
We have raised our children in the godless society that we have constructed and now we are so surprised that they are godless.
But nobody should be surprised.
We are just reaping what we have sown.
For those who have read this article and are wondering what in the world Biblical Christianity is all about, we encourage you to check out this article....
What Does The Bible Say About Salvation?
Came across this article on The FREE Dictionary somehow, and I can’t tell you how happy it made me. My dream is that all places of worship in my city, my county, my whole state, across the country, and throughout the world would close its doors, and this gives me hope.
I had no idea that the statistics were this bad, I am saddened by this news. I hope that my generation can change. As a good Christian I will strive to fight the good fight and not become one of these statistics that is turning away from God.
I googled the phrase “mass exodus” to make sure my usage was correct and I find myself here. I am filled with excitement for the future.
Anthony, no such thing as a “good” Christian! Its just one beggar showing another a bit of light or where a scrap to eat can be found. I heard a nice expression recently: the Church is a hospital for sinners, not a museum for saints…
Good… Organized religion is the stupidest thing ever invented.
Interesting statistics about praying with others, attending worship services of any kind and reading the bible.
No stats, however, about young people giving to charity, working with the poor or otherwise practically living out the Gospels’ message of compassion and care for the underdog.
These are the things which reflect traditional connectivity with Christianity. And I’m confident that many of those absent from the pews are present where it counts in the soup kitchens and refuges.
Yay! The faster religion dies, the better. They are evil institutions, interested only in their own propagation, and raking in the money. Always follow the money. I am mizlee at aol dot com if you wish to discuss. And yes I am atheist, and have been for over 60 years.
I am of the belief that there is one God and his name is Jesus, as stated in ! Timothy 3:16 And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory. and in Ephesians 4:4-9. There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling;5 One Lord, one faith, one baptism,6 One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.7 But unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ.8 Wherefore he saith, When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men.9 (Now that he ascended, what is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth?10 He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that he might fill all things.) I think these verses prove my point, When I go to heaven I am going to see ONE sitting on the throne.
I had already guessed that these stats were correct but I’m glad that this article supports these facts. I would be considered part of the percentage which was raised in an evangelical church and even attended over 5 years of Awana clubs which is basically like religious boy scouts. Not only that, but I was forced to attend a Christian college at 18. All of this led to my rejection of the faith and everything it teaches except maybe Jesus’ teachings about love and charity. And ironically enough, these are the teachings most “Bible believing” Christians ignore. Infact, on mentioning this to them, they will usually ignore me and tell me that “love” is not all that Christianity is about, even though it is supposedly Jesus greatest commandment…..sad.
Its very sad that a majority of the comments on this page seem to rejoice in this story. They are glad that the Christian Church is suffering and declining in as far as young people are concerned. Hell and Heaven are real. There is a titanic struggle being waged at this moment for mans very soul and most people are blind to it. Many, including a great many young people, wont discover the truth until they stand before Jesus and are told that he never knew them. They blame their attitudes regarding Christianity on other older Christians, the Church and everything/one but themselves. Bibles are available everywhere therefore the claim that one didn’t know about Jesus and the salvation that he offers though his blood sacrifice on the cross simply wont wash when it counts.
In Jesus’ own words he said, “When the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth?” Luke 18:8. That is this era. “Lovers of pleasure, rather than lovers of God,” 2 Timothy 3:4. It’s disgusting. You people are fulfilling scripture and you don’t even know it. I’m completely disheartened to see this, and to see the attitudes put forth. Mock the church all you want, but His Word will remain forever.
@Briana, It’s incredibly easy for any religion to predict that people in the future would inevitably move away from it. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist. Therefore they write in into their scriptures like they’re actually predicting the future and use it to scare people into believing their doctrine. Just like they use the line “even if you’re a good person you’ll still go to Hell if you don’t believe what we believe.” Sounds like typical cover your a** speak to me, once again, to scare people into believing.
Oh, and I guess you assume if a person isn’t going to church they’re “Lovers of Pleasure”. Really?
This is amazing news.
Funny how the original article mentions absolutely nothing about young Americans’ attitudes to matters of social justice. Health care reform, treatment of the disadvantaged and marginalized (prisoners and other ‘least of my brothers types). You know, all the things Jesus continually pushed. I suspect they haven’t abandoned the values which underpin these things. Just the boring, dull and irrelevant religious services they were forced to endure growing up.
This is the worst set of comments I have ever seen in all my life…clearly it is so easy to see but yet you are still blinded. We Christians are to Preach the Good Faith, that’s the charity we need to be involved in, for this hopeless world. Charity is good yes, but not going to save you from the rapture. Fact one: Christianity is not a religion so get that straight, it’s a personal, one-on-one relationship with Jesus Christ who was mocked, beaten, spat on, whipped, thorns put in his head, and crucified on a cross for your lives. It says in Matt. 10:33 that whoever denies me before others, I will deny before my Father in heaven. The Gospel is not to be argued upon mere mentalities, go ahead and read it but if you don’t have the Holy Spirit you shall not understand the Truth behind His words. There are no “religious” ceremonies or “traditional” services! You who perversely talk about the bible and have defile the true message Jesus has left behind have no reverence for the King of Kings. The world is gone…minds are deceived by the plague of locusts. My hope and prayer is still for your salvation…although come what may for you who have heard the Word and have rejected it. There is still time, although it’s running out, to ask Jesus for salvation.
I don’t understand why everyone (especially Christians) are surprised. To the author of this article – you need to reread your Bible especially the section where Jesus speaks of a mass exodus from faith during End Times. Jesus isn’t surprised and you shouldn’t be either.